Advertising Companies

I was doing some digging around here looking for some answers and help so if there is something I missed plz point me in the right direction, BUT....

I am finally going to be adding some ads on our site (we are in the health care industry, weight loss, nutrition, etc) and have been approved for adsense. BU i am wondering if there are other companies out there that any of you have had great success with.

We applied for microsoft beta but that is taking forever to get a response and approval on, yahoo is no longer accepting from what i was told and some of the other companies have strict and tough requirements like so many page views, etc and we are a new launching company.

We are looking into and see on other sites a wide variety ot different ad types (some ads have pics next to them which imo looks better and more attractive) and some just run with the basic google adsense.

Just trying to figure out if there are any other ones out there that people seem to like and have high thoughts and experiences on before we go ahead and start adding the ads to the site -- like anyone else, we want to try and save time by asking those who have been down this road before!

Does everyone seem to get good results with adsense and thats the "industry leader" or is it a "personal preference" type deal...

I look forward to any help and advice on tis topic from all your brilliant minds!!

P.S. I sent a inquiry to google but wont hurt to ask in hopes of saving time, but does google frown on a site using their adsense AND another companies advertising on your site -- do they prefer and want you to just use theirs?